VZCZCXRO2507
RR RUEHGR
DE RUEHBE #0520 2282136
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 162136Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY BELMOPAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0752
INFO RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 0013
RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICA COLLECTIVE
RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS BELMOPAN 000520
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PINR BH VE
SUBJECT: BELIZE-VENEZUELA: NEW BRV AMBASSADOR TO BELIZE
REF: BELMOPAN 495
1. (SBU) With timing perhaps linked to Prime Minister Musa's visit
to Venezuela for the PetroCaribe Summit, the BRV Embassy in Belize
circulated on August 14 an announcement that the Mission's Charge
d'Affaires, Roberto J. Dubuc, was being transferred to the Internal
Service in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and had left Belize
August 9. According to the note the new Ambassador will be Omar
Valdiviezo, date of arrival not specified.
2. (U) Last fall the GoB announced that it was naming Sarkis
Abou-Nehra as non-resident Ambassador to Venezuela. The government
has no plans that we are aware of to name a resident Ambassador to
Caracas.
2. (SBU) COMMENT: Dubuc has been the Invisible Man of the
diplomatic corps for some time, seldom seen and rarely heard from.
Our assumption is that he is being replaced by someone who will give
the BRV a higher profile here to go with the largesse that the BRV
has been providing Belize recently (reftel). Unfortunately for us,
the plot of land in Belmopan allocated to Venezuela for a new
Embassy is directly across the street from our Consular Section
entrance. END COMMENT.
HILL